Before the Fall
by Zorua Illusion
Summary: A oneshot series of Zarla's and Adam's lives before Falling in Love in Avatar Land.
1. How Zarla and Adam Met

**A/N: How Zarla and Adam met, just as the title suggests. Has a few hints to something that's coming up… eventually. After I finish AKA.**

**Disclaimer: To, what, exactly? No fandoms mentioned, but whatever. I own nothing that is owned by a formal company, and everything goes to the appropriate owners.**

**Zarla's telling this tale.**

To say that Adam and I met in a "very unlikely way", as you put it, is an understatement to so many extremes, I really can't figure out what to say so that way it would make sense.

You see, it started with Science Fair, way back when I was five, I think. Yes, a kindergartener went to Science Fair. I was extremely smart, alright? I was standing next to my project, which happened to be a very basic chemistry experiment, the details lost to time, when another kid popped up beside me.

"Hello," he said, very shyly.

"Hi!" I responded.

Just then, a woman came over. "Adam, you're about to be judged! Go on; go back to your board!" Then the lady turned to me and smiled a bit too tightly. "Sorry if he was bothering you, sweetie."

I frowned and then spoke. "I'm not a 'sweetie', and he wasn't bothering me."

It was one of those moments when you really wish you had a bloody camera ready to go so you could take a picture of another person's reaction. I don't believe she thought that a five year old would talk back to an adult, especially not the way I did.

I think the judges were my saving grace because when they came, the lady stalked away, likely after Adam.

The judges did their thing, after having me explain for the fifth time, _yes, I did do this, no, my parents didn't do it for me, yes, I do actually understand what I'm talking about,_ and gave me a few comments before leaving. I put my papers back in my folder (what, I was five, I'm not expected to remember everything!) before leaving the room, hopefully to grab something to eat.

I didn't end up getting lunch- it was three bucks for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I'll pass- instead, I ended up at an interactive animal booth, where you could hold bunnies and rats and mice. I was petting a kit (baby bunny) when the same boy from earlier walked up.

"Hello again," I grinned as he picked up a small white rat and started petting it.

He simply smiled at me, petting the rat a few more times before putting the creature back and selecting one away from the others in a corner.

I set the kit I was holding back in her cage and picked up a baby ferret that was curled up on its own. It snuggled into my arm and yawned before falling asleep.

We had to leave a few minutes later, as the people who came with the animals needed to do something or another; once again, exactly what they needed to do is lost with time.

"I'm Adam," he stated abruptly.

"Zarla." I stuck my hand and he shook it before another voice called out "Adam! Adam, where are you?"

Adam's eyes got wide before he hid behind a trash can just as the woman rushed past. For some reason, I got a better look at her. She had straight blonde hair and brown eyes, and might possibly have been a little more attractive if it weren't for the three inches of make-up that caked her face. She wore ridiculously pink high heels that were impractically tall and made an annoying clacking sound on the ground. She was in an outfit that, now that I think about it, showed just a hint to much skin for her profession.

She passed by Adam and I without a second glance. He slowly emerged from behind the trashcan and stood next to me.

"Why are you afraid of her?" I asked bluntly.

Adam gaped for a moment, recovered, and told me "I'm not afraid of her!"

I raised my eyebrows disbelievingly. I was sassy as a kindergartner.

Adam sighed then showed me his upper arm, hidden by his green shirt sleeve. There were purple and yellow and brown welts marching up and down his arm, each one long, thin, and covered in some sort of paste.

"She hits me, sometimes. She always makes sure that I don't tell anyone," he explained, hiding the marks once more.

"And the paste?" I questioned.

"Makes them hurt less and heal a bit faster." He shrugged.

"Why?"

Adam raised his eyebrows as well. "If I take it, then she won't bother the others."

I think this is when I started counting him as one of my friends.

"But if she gets caught…" I was cut off by Adam.

"She won't be- believe in me, I've tried to get her to stop, get her to go away, but she never leaves any proof. No recordings, no eye witnesses, and if I tell my parents, she'll hit me again and deny it."

I grinned. You see, the advantage of being a hyper intelligent five year old is that you can do practically anything and not be called out on it because you're five. They don't expect you to start acting like your twenty until you're seven, at least.

"Well, we'll just have to make some then." I took out the disposable camera my mom had given me to take pictures of interesting projects. "Now, when does she hit you?"

After quite a bit of planning, hiding, and exchanging of personal information (birthday, favorite color, favorite televisions show, etcetera), we were finally ready. I was hidden underneath one of the tables nearby Adam, who was messing with his display when his teacher came along, demanding him to tell her why he was messing with it.

"This needs to go here to…" and then he went into some very large medical explanation that went right over my head. Chemistry was my department, not biology.

I saw the teacher's face grow continuously redder as Adam went on. I got my camera ready and clicked away when she slapped him. There was no one around to hear the smack. Whilst Adam was reeling, she grabbed a stick out of her purse and hit his arms covered by the sleeves. I took pictures of each hit, feeling awful that I couldn't just drag Adam away from her, but I knew we would need this evidence to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

"Remember, little boy, not one word of this to anyone," she said with that false sweetness. She turned around and left, leaving Adam there, in pain but smiling.

"Got it?"

"Oh yes," I replied, holding up my camera.

Finally, some evidence!

Skip ahead about an hour, the photos are printed (they had a station right there) and when we get judged for the second time. This time, Adam hung around me for my judging, which was half an hour before his. When questioned, I simply responded "He's my friend. He's allowed."

I swear that grin on his face was spread ear to ear for the rest of the judging.

I hung around Adam for his judging, which was by another two judges. A mark was finally showing where the lady had slapped him, purple against light tan.

One of the judges was concerned.

"What happened?" the younger looking of the two asked, gesturing towards Adam's face. He touched it lightly, as if he forgot it was there, and suddenly, he didn't look too confident. I stepped forward, ignoring the other judge who tried to hold me back, and placed my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me and I smiled, motioning towards the man, as if to say "It's okay, I'm here, and so is he."

Adam spoke. "It was Ms. Dulce."

"How do you spell that?" the older one instantly asked, looking mildly concerned and interested.

"It's on the top of his board," I deadpanned. It was hard to miss, too, in bright pink ink on white cardboard, large, elaborate, and surrounded by hearts with arrows through them.

"Oh… yes, quite right. But you still need to prove it was her."

I tossed him the envelope, which he opened and went through.

"Oh, dear goodness… Adam, we're going to take care of this, but we need to finish your judging right now, alright?" the younger asked. Adam nodded and grasped onto my hand. He was still afraid of what Ms. Dulce might do to him. I held it back, letting him know that he wasn't alone.

Another time skip later, this time it being around five in the afternoon, a surprise announcement came up. "Will Adam Smith and his teacher, along with Zarla Mattson, come to the auditorium please? Thank you."

I blinked in surprise before mentally shrugging and entering the auditorium, where if Eris was real, she'd be laughing with delight.

Adam was cowering in a corner and Ms. Dulce, whose real name was apparently Amy Heart, was fighting of police officers with her baton, which would occasionally strike Adam and cause him to yelp. Already, several of what would've been bruises normally were now cuts that stung.

And little five year old me was not going to take that. No one hurts my friends, not even today, when I'm 19 years old, unless they want to find out why I have some of my titles.

I stormed up to Amy, avoided the switch, snatched it, and broke it before throwing the two halves away and kicking her in the shins and then knees. When she was on the ground, I got real close to her face and said in a completely calm voice, "Don't ever hurt my friends again."

Toph nicknamed me Rabbit-Kangaroo for a reason, you know.

Then the police handcuffed her and took her away.

Later, I found out that she was a convicted felon, responsible for a large, underground drug dealing business, along with several abuse charges. Several adults tried going toward Adam, but he just crept away, even from his own parents.

Then I stepped forward, and he looked at me with so many different emotions in his eyes, I felt just a little bit helpless. I hugged him tight and let him cry, out of relief, fear, exhaustion, sadness, or something else, I would never know. But when he pulled away at me and _smiled_, this smile that I, to this day, will continue to believe that it would light up Times Square with power to spare, I knew that we were bound together forever.

I never knew how long our "forever" would be, but I knew that no amount of time would ever be long enough.

**A/N: Yeah, it's bit inaccurate, I really don't think kindergarteners participate in science fair, but whatever. I like it.**

**I originally wrote this for a Language Arts assignment. Can totally use as a fanfiction, with a bit of editing.**


	2. How We Met the Doctor and Donna

**A/N: I OWN NOTHING. Except Zarla and Adam.**

The end of the world began when Zarla and I were on the Ferris Wheel during Spring Break.

"Okay, folks, we're going to try to get you down," the announcer had said just after technical difficulties had started happening. Zarla and I were at the highest point, so we'd be the last to get down, but we didn't panic. We sat there and waited for our turn.

Well, apparently whoever was attacking us had other plans, as their freaking enormous ship appeared out of thin air. It looked like something straight from Star Wars.

Troops of bee-like humanoids started pouring from it, using their wings to speed off to other places. Some stayed here and tried to corral the panicking humans.

Zarla and I were finally let off the Ferris Wheel.

"Adam, we need to get to the lab," Zarla told me, the laughter and smiles she had earlier disappearing.

I nodded, leading her to the car my parents had loaned me for the trip. I had just recently gotten my license, but I could still drive legally.

Zarla hopped into the passenger side and I got behind the wheel. The bees had tried to follow us, but our knowledge of the layout of the fair helped us avoid being caught.

I started up the engine and backed out, speeding towards the little shed Zarla and I had built.

Well, it really wasn't all that little. It was large enough for Zarla and I to work on our separate projects in relative comfort and had a large field outside in case we needed space for testing. It also had a little lounge area- not much, just a few beanbag chairs, a small television, and a rug, but it was cozy all the same.

Zarla was currently testing her "explosion in a bottle", or sodium and water in a glass test tube that would explode when the test tube broke. They were working, but Zarla said the explosions were too large. She wanted to break metal, not kill people. So she was messing with the amounts of sodium and water, and from what she says, she was getting pretty close.

I was working on improving burn salve, so that way the burned skin would itch and peel in little flakes, but would rather come off in a sheet after a week. It would also reduce pain. It was slow going, unfortunately, but if I kept at the rate I was at, it be finished by August. (It was currently late April.)

Anyway, we made it there with little incident. The bees were ignoring us, for now. Two teenagers vs. all of humanity? They'll go for the latter, until they realize we're going to try to stop them.

Yes, I am fully aware of what you're thinking- you're both sixteen years old! Why are you fighting? Let the adults take care of it!

Well, unfortunately, Zarla and I are both either extremely brave… or extremely stupid, take your pick. Also, most of the adults in our town were incompetent morons. I was not going to let my hometown be taken, and Zarla wasn't going to let the people that had welcomed her family fall to some stupid insectoids.

So we made it to the lab. It was white with blue and green trimmings with a sign on the door.

"Both of us are out. Come back later." It was written in Zarla's somehow-neat-but-messy-but-legible handwriting. I unlocked the shed (we kept it locked because we don't trust some of the people of the town to not steal and do something stupid with the supplies we kept in here) and entered, Zarla rushing past me on silent feet and gathering up her "explosions in a bottle" and putting them carefully into a padded bag, which she slung over her shoulder. I grabbed my portable medicine kit and put it in my bag, and grabbed a smoke machine. Zarla tossed me matches and a flashlight. We each had survival kits in our bags.

Yeah, we were prepared to be attacked. Something we did in our spare time because we started thinking about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse (very small) and had some fun with preparing for it. We kept the kits.

We went back outside to find that the bees had surrounded our little shed and old car.

"Sssurender," the leader of them hissed.

"Oh, go screw your queen," Zarla said in reply, tossing a bottle at their feet, the resulting explosion giving off smoke and flame (which, luckily, didn't set the field on fire).

The bees buzzed off, and Zarla and I hopped into the car. We were driving back down to the fair when I had to slam on the brakes, making us spin one full time before stopping just before the blue police box that had appeared right in the middle of the street.

"What the?" Zarla began, unlocking the door and jumping out with me following suit after I grabbed the keys.

Just then, the door opened, and out came two people I never thought I would see in real life.

"You know, if not for the whole I'm running on adrenaline and the fact that I'm scared out of my mind and not waking up, I would assume I'm dreaming," Zarla remarked to me.

"Or having a nightmare," I replied, getting a dark chuckle in response.

"Hello! I'm the Doctor. Can you tell me where and when I am and what's going on?"

"Well, you're in Ohio, late April, 2012, and we are currently being overtaken by large, killer, humanoid bees. At night, so scaring them off with sun produced fire isn't an option."

"So what are you two doing? Where are your parents?" Donna questioned.

"Probably at the safe house. We're going to fight off the bees," Zarla smoothly replied, trying to go past them.

Hey, it didn't matter if she was a fan, the town needed protecting! But the Doctor stuck out an arm.

Zarla wasn't exactly one to follow orders. She ducked down beneath the arm and kept walking.

"I wouldn't suggest telling her what to do. We're very protective of this town for our own reasons, and we're not just about to let some beehive take it over for whatever reason."

"Then let us help," Donna said, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"Give me a second. Oi, Zar!" I shouted the last part, Zarla turning towards me. "They're going to help."

Zarla came back and started speaking, fiddling with a portable radio she always had on her. "We'd better do it fast. Radio's up, just barely, and already they've taken most of uptown. Most the state, really. They're moving towards Columbus as we speak."

"So, question is, what are they after?"

"Well, the," here, the Doctor said a word I will never be able to pronounce, "go mainly for the natural resources of a world- that's how they fuel their economy, by capturing planets and seizing their resources until it's barren, moving onto the next one. Normally, I'd let them, seeing as they usually stick to uninhabited planets and it can be good for the ecosystem, but…"

"Now people are in danger and the rest of this reasoning can be held at a later date when we aren't about to be killed by enormous freaking wasps!" Zarla exclaimed, throwing another bottle at an incoming group of bees.

"Oh, sodium and water, very nice. Anyway, running!" Doc grabbed Donna's hand and running away from the fair.

"Oi, Doc! The ship's the other way!" Zarla called after him, getting into the car.

I followed suit, calling a "hop in!" to the Doctor and Donna, who quickly piled into the back seat, Doc mumbling something about taking the TARDIS.

"To be quite honest, I really don't think she can fly all that well here," Zarla commented.

Doc just nodded his head after a few minutes in agreement.

About five minutes before we reached the fair, Zarla pointed.

"That's what I think is the main ship. It appeared about half an hour ago. What are they planning?"

Doc aimed his sonic screwdriver at the ship and then read whatever it was saying.

"Same deal as usual, taking over a planet and its resources. Humans will be taken too; they'll be used as slaves."

"Any idea on how to stop them?"

"Smoke their ship. They aren't prepared for fights, they had a bit of a glitch that said this planet was uninhabited, but the amount of resources was too great for them to turn back."

"So, basically, we're telling them it isn't worth it, and hopefully no one dies?" I inquired, turning into the parking lot and a space.

"Yep!"

"Got something up your sleeve? We've got a smoke machine and miniature explosions here, Doc, not something for that large of a ship!" Zarla exclaimed.

"They're extremely sensitive to any amount of it, and also, there's a main ventilator shaft nearby the center of the ship. We'll have to get there first."

"Any plan on how?"

We were running towards the fair, now. It was mostly empty except for some straggler bees.

"Not really," Doc whispered to us.

"He's normally like this, don't worry. He'll think of something," Donna tried to reassure us.

"Like a trasmat!" Doc lead us over to this futuristic yet slightly retro machine and shoved Zarla, Donna, and I inside while he programmed it. Then he hopped in and we were instantly transported.

Into the swarm's control room… with about ten bees inside, all staring at us.

"Not your best work here!" Zarla shouted, throwing another two bottles when the bees began to charge us. Smoke covered the small room, and the buzzing was highly distracting.

"Which way?" I called.

No response.

"Which way?" I shouted again.

The lack of visual and audio was disorienting. I took a step and stumbled before a hand caught me.

Zarla had a new scratch on her forehead and her hands were dirty. She was gripping what looked to be part of a pipeline in her right hand.

"C'mon, this way," she said before dragging me through the smoke.

"What's up with the pipe?" I asked once we were free of the smoke filled room and she had shut the door.

"They can launch their stingers, like Beedrills. Doc and Donna are ahead of us. We didn't realize you were still trapped in the smoke."

"I'm fine, so let's get moving before they get into too much more trouble."

Zarla scoffed. "Yeah, like they're trying to avoid it."

I conceded the point and off we went, Zarla leading. No more bug warriors popped up. Eventually, we reached the center ventilator where Doc and Donna were currently dashing about.

"I... never got your name. What was it again? Anyway, can I have the smoke machine?"

I handed Doc the smoke machine before replying. "I never said it. I'm Adam."

"Zarla," she introduced herself.

"Donna, and you already know the Doctor."

"Right! Now that we're done passing around little tidbits of information, let's make sure Earth isn't taken over, yeah?" Doc started up the smoke machine. "It'll take about ten minutes for the place to fill up. We need to get back to the trasmat."

"No you ssshall not…" the odd, buzzing voice of an insectoid rang out, although it was very quiet.

Zarla and I turned to be met with around fifteen bees.

Zarla's eyes widened, and then narrowed. Her grip on the pipe shifted from nervousness. She had never fought so many people before, but I knew she would give up until she was dead.

Three of the bees launched their stingers. Zarla ducked one and deflected another, using the pipe as a bat. The third one I ducked. They stuck into the walls, which I was now noting were in the shape of honeycombs and had the stickiness of honey, but looked like light grey metal. Interesting.

"Seven minutes!" Doc called out, waving his sonic screwdriver in an attempt to figure out how to help. Donna chucked a loose slab of metal, effectively knocking out one of the bees.

That left eleven… make that ten. Zarla had just hit one over the head with the pipe. Apparently the bees fainted whenever they launched their stingers, but they were desperate enough to do so.

I dodged another before lobbing another chunk of scrap metal, reducing the number down to nine.

Zarla smoked two more with another bottle. She didn't have time to make too many of them before we left for the fair earlier this morning (was it really only about 12 hours ago? It felt like a lifetime ago…), so I knew she was running low. She just barely managed to block a stinger from hitting her from the front.

I was distracted watching Zarla and Doc and Donna, making sure they were okay, too distracted to realize that there was a stinger heading straight for me until it was embedded within my shoulder. I gave a yelp of pain just as a slab of metal knocked out the bee that had stung me.

That left five.

Zarla smoked out another two and hit the others with her pipe, stunning them as she rushed over to me.

Yeah, not one of my best plans. I'm allergic to bees, see. Whoops.

"Adam, are you okay? I don't know what to do, walk me through."

"Injector, front pocket. Right above the stinger. You have to remove it first."

"Doctor!" Donna called, knocking two more of the bees out with metal chunks.

Doc rushed over to me. "Well, that's not good."

"Naw, ya think?" Zarla snapped sarcastically from behind me, where she was about to remove the stinger, "What was it about them being mostly peaceful?"

"They've changed," Doc muttered grimly before smacking her hands away, "Their stingers are poisonous. Hang on."

Doc removed a handkerchief from his suit pocket and extracted the stinger.

"Antidote in pale blue. Will work?" My words were cut and probably slurred.

My vision was getting blurry. Was there one Doctor or three?

Zarla took out the yellow pen and followed my instructions and that on the side of the pen. I had taught her long ago how to use one, and it had just needed a bit of refreshing.

"Yep!" Doc exclaimed happily, giving me two doses of the antidote I had made awhile ago for poisonous bugs.

It seemed to be working. I felt better already, but I could hardly move until the venom was wiped from my system. Luckily, the medicine I had made works very quickly.

"Two minutes!" Doc exclaimed, rushing us out the door. Donna followed.

I stumbled quite a bit, but Zarla slung one of my arms across her shoulders and we ran straight for the trasmat.

We all beamed down in the nick of time, just as the rest of the bee warriors loaded up into the ship. It took a grand total of five intense minutes, but finally, the ship took off, and the humans on the ground were cheering.

Zarla and I grinned tired smiles, and Zarla threw the pipe away and hugged me.

"Brave or stupid?" she asked.

"Definitely brave," I replied, hugging her back. Noticing the Doctor and Donna, I motioned for them to join in.

"It was a group effort, therefore, group hug."

Zarla nodded in agreement, extending her arm towards Donna.

"Aw, what the heck!" Doc joined into the hug, followed by Donna.

We all laughed at the absurdity of it all.

"So, Doc, how'd you end up here, of all places?"

"Erm… Well…" Doc began to explain.

Apparently, something in the Time Vortex had knocked them into a hole that lead to our universe. It was strange because normally, the TARDIS wouldn't be able to travel here in the first place, much less recharge.

He asked how we knew about this, and we informed him of the television show Doctor Who. We promised to show it to him if he wanted us to and if he was willing to go back to our shed.

"Won't your parents be worried?" Donna asked.

I grimaced. Mine would, yes, but they would call me on my cell phone. Zarla's dad, on the other hand…

Zarla gave them a flat stare. "My mom might call later. My dad doesn't care."

Doc's eyebrows rose, as did Donna's. My phone rang out before they could question her though.

"Hey Mom," I spoke, walking away from the group after checking the ID.

To sum it up:

Zarla got into the car, along with Doc and Donna

I assured my mom I was safe

I promised to be home in two hours- ten o'clock p.m.

We drove to the little shed and settled in the little lobby area, where a small television and two beanbag chairs resided on top of a cushy rug.

Zarla showed Doc the Netflix streaming of Doctor Who, from Nine meeting Rose until the Doctor picked up Donna as a companion, but refused to show him some seasons.

"Foreknowledge is dangerous, remember?" was her reasoning that Doc had to surrender to.

We watched two episodes, both with the Tenth Doctor (who was the one we met) with Donna.

They stated how weird it was to see themselves on television, acting out exactly what they had done.

Doc wasn't really all that surprised as to having a television show in an alternate world.

Something about physic waves and the writers being sensitive to them. He went into scientific talk I couldn't make heads or tails out of.

Eventually though, I had to return home.

"Do you guys need a place to stay or are you going to use the TARDIS?" I asked, dropping my bag onto a hook and removing the stuff I had originally came with.

"The Old Gal's a bit… out of commission," Donna admitted.

"She's got a bit of toxic smoke in the console room right now… she's trying to make herself habitable, but it will take awhile," Doc added.

"Well, hop in then. My mom would never forgive me if I at least offer the place people who need a place to stay."

"Oh, no, we couldn't do that…" Doc started protesting, but Zarla cut in for me.

"Look, this place is small, the next hotel's an hour and half away by car, and isn't all that cheap. Also, none of us can take you and you said yourself that the TARDIS can't be entered. Adam's family is extremely generous and caring, believe me, I know. So both go with him and have a decent place to sleep or camp out here with all our stuff, which is highly suggested against. Seriously, just go with him."

"What about you?"

"We live three doors away from each other," I commented, once again grabbing the keys and leading the way out.

Zarla followed, once again taking the passenger seat while I took the driver's seat and Doc and Donna sat in the back of the powder blue Chevy that is my mom's.

I dropped Zarla off at her house, getting a quick, awkward hug and a "thank you" before she leapt out of the car and sprinted into the house, closing the door behind her. I noticed Frehor Noches in the window.

I swear he nodded at me.

I drove down to my house and parked the car.

"Are you sure your family won't mind?" Donna asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Positive. Though, fair warning, they get excited easily."

I was right. My mother gushed over the Doctor and Donna, serving up food and asking if they were comfortable, making sleeping arrangements (Donna would get the guest room, Doc would get my bed, and I'd sleep on the couch. Took awhile to get them to agree), and making sure they were all set for the morning. My dad was already sleeping.

"You were right," Donna told me.

"I think I'd know my own family. Anyway, here's the guest room."

"Thank you."

"Anytime."

I showed Doc to my room. It was midnight by now. I crashed on the sofa a few minutes later, wiped out from lack of adrenaline and sheer exhaustion.

**Let's do the Time Warp Again! (Time Skip!)**

Waking up to a burning smell isn't exactly pleasant. I got the feeling dad was attempting to make pancakes again.

Now, don't get me wrong, my dad can cook, and really well too. He just has a problem with pancakes for some reason.

"Dad, are you making pancakes again?"

"Attempting to, yes." I walked into the kitchen to see my dad, whom I took after, standing over a griddle with a plate of blackened chunks next to him and more on the griddle. I scraped the ones on the plate.

"Here, dad, don't squish them down, just… oh, here." I took over, my dad backing away with hands raised.

"At least I don't screw up the bacon," he grinned at me.

"At least," I smiled back.

The Doctor came down soon afterwards. His nose wrinkled a bit at the scent of burnt pancakes, but he stopped himself from commenting. Donna came down soon afterwards, and I gave both of them a plate of three pancakes and two strips of bacon.

Donna ate hers with syrup, the Doctor did not. He asked for jam instead and ate his similar to a sandwich.

Random, I know, but that happens to be a habit of mine- notice the random details.

Zarla came in the door a few minutes later. My dad had retreated upstairs to his and mom's bedroom with two plates of breakfast.

"Did I miss anything in the last twelve hours?" Zarla took a seat facing Doc and Donna on my side of the breakfast bar.

"Nothing earth-shattering, no," I replied, giving her a plate of breakfast, which was passed back to me.

"Not hungry or politeness?"

"Since when have I been known for being polite?"

_Since you were born until a few months ago_ was the answer, but I knew she had the same thought I did, so the question passed unchallenged.

"Agenda?" Zarla questioned.

"Get these two home," I supplied.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow at us.

"Any-"

"No."

Zarla nodded her head, confirming it to herself. She took the glass of milk I had poured for her, making a face as she swallowed it.

"Has to be done, Zarla, but if you don't get enough calcium you'll get that annoying muscle cramp."

"Se, se, pero molesando." (I know, I know, but annoying.)

"Si." (**A/N: No accent marks available. It's supposed to say "yes", but in the form it's in, it means "if".)**

"What?" Donna asked, finished with her food. I took her plate and put it in the sink, soon followed by the Doctor's. Water was run over both to prevent stickiness.

"Spanish. 'I know, I know, but annoying', literally," Zarla translated.

"Si is yes," I explained.

"That a thing between you two?" Donna inquired.

"Yes. Do you think the TARDIS will be ready to go?"

"She should be. Whole twenty four hours should be enough for her to fix herself up."

We drove back to the blue box in silence. Doc and Donna nearly jumped out of the car while it was still moving when the TARDIS came into sight. The Doctor unlocked the door and checked inside, confirming that it was safe for humans as well as Time Lords.

"Do you want to look?" the Doctor asked, poking his head out.

"Sure," Zarla replied, heading inside the door the Doctor had opened. I joined them.

Zarla was looking around the place, a true smile growing on her face. It had been far too long since I'd seen that grin, and I felt a similar one coming on my own face.

"It's smaller on the outside," Zarla and I said in unison.

"Haven't heard that one before," the Doctor remarked.

Zarla stepped off the metal flooring and touched one of the coral pieces.

The TARDIS hummed louder and her lights flashed, making Zarla laugh in sheer happiness.

"I've never seen her take to someone so quickly," the Doctor stated.

"The TARDIS has been a home to us long before we stepped through those doors, Doc," Zarla commented, stroking the coral. The humming changed pitch. I set my own hand on a coral beam, feeling the vibrations of the TARDIS's humming.

The doors slammed shut, making Zarla and I jump. The Doctor looked at the console questioningly, as did Donna.

"Apparently, she wants you two to come with us."

I blinked in surprise. "Well, that's not something you hear every day."

"Would you like to?" the Doctor asked.

Zarla and I looked at each other.

Yes, the TARDIS is a home to us. But we have responsibilities here. Those would soon be over, though, like the end of Spring Break soon. Zarla and I were graduating early, and our families could take care of themselves.

"Can you wait three days?" Zarla inquired.

The TARIS hummed, flashed her lights again, and quieted down, dimming the lights.

"I don't think the Old Gal's giving us much of a choice. It would probably be a good idea to move out of the middle of the road."

"Police department starts moving about nine. It's eight thirty right now. Old Gal, think you can move to the field nearby our shed? People won't think twice about it there."

The TARDIS's lights turned up full power again. The doors opened, and Zarla and I walked out and into the car, driving down to our shed.

Fifteen minutes later, we were in the field outside our shed, just as Zarla requested.

"Why three days?" Donna asked when we met up inside the shed.

"We're graduating then. It's Friday now, we graduate Monday," I explained

"Odd timing," she commented.

"They don't want the graduates going out, smoking, sitting on their bums for years, underage drinking, partying all weekend, or some combination thereof," Zarla informed.

The next three days passed in a similar manner. Doc and Donna helped out with us doing our projects and they learned more about us, seeing as we already knew quite a bit about them.

It was on the second day that they addressed the well-hidden elephant in the room.

"Something happened to you," Doc commented randomly to Zarla one day.

She froze over her experiment, slowly turning to look at Doc.

"What do you mean?" There was no forced curiosity. Just a flat question, slightly defensive.

"Something terrible happened to you, not too long ago," Doc observed from the purple star patterned beanbag chair he was sitting on.

Zarla smiled- this sad, broken little showing of the teeth that was all too familiar and tight. She shook her head, ponytail shifting behind her, and turned back to her experiment.

"Yeah."

"What?"

The silence wasn't comfortable this time around. It was hard, tense, and saddening. I moved from where I was waiting for my project to set to pat Zarla's shoulder. It was up nearby her ear, but her back was still turned to Doc. I noticed her iron grip on the countertop, easing the hand away and into my own. She relaxed slowly. I dropped her hand. She turned back towards Do, leaning slightly against the counter, away from the flaming materials. (They weren't actually on fire, that's just what I call Bunsen Burners, hot plates, and the like.)

"Ever wonder why the only people who acknowledge I exist are a scant group of six?"

"I noticed it."

Donna had her elbow on her knee, chin resting in her hand, as she listened to the conversation.

"'The heart is a notoriously fickle beast', so I've once heard, and the only way to really learn that lesson is the hard way. I took the Master Quest path, but it wasn't by choice. And now, because people believe everything they hear, no one acknowledges that I am a human being with feelings and emotions and thoughts. I think the only reason they do that is because you went off at them Adam."

"You would've done the same for me."

It was true- some of the kids at our school were spreading nasty rumors about Zarla during her months of "deafness", and I was _livid._ They hadn't even heard her side of the story, and there they went, off spreading words because it wasn't of any consequence to them.

So I went off, telling them in a very calm, very deadly voice, to never say anything without knowing all sides. A few strong curses thrown here and there got the point across. I never cursed (in a language they could comprehend, at least), so dropping a few of those had their eyes wide open in terror.

One of our teachers, Mr. Link, had overheard, and told me not to use those words in school. Afterwards, though, when we had a moment of privacy when all the other students had gone to lunch (I always packed my lunch and ate it quickly, so I helped out with the teachers to avoid the sheer stupidity of my classmates), he told me he was proud of me for not exploding and shouting at them, and for standing up for my friend.

I told him that shouting wasn't going to do anything. People were used to it, got defensive. Quiet, lava like anger is the best way to get a point across. Both of us remained quiet after that.

"So, yeah, most of the town just ignores me now. Only Adam's parents, you two, my mom, and Adam here actually talk to my face."

A black cat jumped up on the counter nearby Zarla.

"And, of course, Frehor. Wouldn't be here without him." She scratched the aforementioned feline behind his ears and gave him treats. His deep blue eyes were wide and playful, so Zarla took one of those foam disc launchers and launched a few out of the small window.

Frehor ran through the installed cat door and went around, collecting the discs.

"That… is one smart cat," Donna commented.

"I found him on the streets about four years ago. You wouldn't have recognized him, he was so covered in mud and dust and brambles. He seemed afraid of me at first, but I lay down on my stomach and he eventually sat on me. I took him to my house and cleaned him up, gave him some food, and, well, the rest is history. He's never been too far from me ever since."

And that was the end of that. They talked about Frehor for awhile, before Zarla and I turned back to our experiments.

**Let's do the Time Warp again!**

The graduation went off without a hitch. Zarla and I got our diplomas, listened to the valedictorian, threw our caps at a target (since we weren't allowed to throw them up in the air due to safety issues, the school had made a target out of cardboard and red paint for graduating students to throw their hats at, if they so wished.)

Zarla and I were two of five sophomores graduating early. We were congratulated, took photos, and all that other graduation jazz that happens.

Only we had the Doctor and Donna watching in the back row, suitcases already in the TARDIS, waiting for us to say good-bye to our families and go off on an adventure of a lifetime.

Zarla walked over to her mother- the only part of her family to show up for this milestone in her life. A tearful good-bye was said, and Zarla promised to try and communicate as much as possible and to not get killed.

I shared a good-bye with my family that was too personal to be recorded and went into the TARDIS, stashed inside a storage room in the school.

The ancient engines roared, and we all held onto the railings as we went spiraling into the Time Vortex.

"So, where to first?" the Doctor asked us.

We grinned.

**A/N: Ta-da! It took me ten days to type up 5,340 (5,469 including A/Ns) words and 18 pages, but it was worth it to finally explain how Doc and Donna met Zarla and Adam.**

**And, to hopefully destroy any confusion, no, these are not the wasps from The Wasp and the Unicorn. This race is more… human. How you seen those Pokémon to human drawings, where the humans have to color schemes and some aspects of the Pokémon but are still human? That's pretty much what they look like. They were a (made up) earlier version of the wasps you see in the Wasp and the Unicorn.**

**Possibly up next: A more detailed description of how Zarla got Frehor Noches' loyalty.**


	3. How Zarla and Frehor Noches Are Friends

A twelve year old Zarla was walking home from school. She was huddled in her purple hoodie with the hood up, her arms crossed against the chill the rain brought. The sky was a dark, murky gray, and the downpour was relentless. Zarla's eyes snapped up when a bright flash crossed the clouds. She quickened her walking, but stopped on a dime a few seconds later. She could sworn she heard something…

"MEOW." It was coming from the field nearby. Zarla looked over and headed towards the meow.

She stumbled across a little hidey hole in the ground, but it wasn't doing very much for the murky brown cat huddled inside. Its fur was all fluffed up, especially its tail, indicating fear.

Zarla slowly approached, wanting to help the poor thing, but it hissed at her. So Zarla, ignoring the mud, lay down on her stomach, moving her trash bag-covered backpack next to her.

Thunder boomed, and the cat jumped. It looked at the sky, then back at Zarla, then the sky, then Zarla again, staring at her long and hard. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity to Zarla, the cat got up and walked slowly to Zarla's side before jumping on her back and sitting on her, a little less ruffled. Zarla waited about a minute more before patting the cat gently on its side, accidently pricking her finger on a bramble tangled in the fur. The cat gracefully leapt off of her, just as another lightning strike shot through, followed by the loud boom of thunder a few seconds later.

"C'mon, I have to get home. I can take care of you there," Zarla explained to the cat.

She swore that it nodded at her before she picked it up, covering it up by putting it inside her hoodie pocket with its head sticking out. She jogged quickly to her house, taking the slightly longer path to avoid trees. She got inside just as another bout of thunder echoed from the skies.

"Hello?"

No response. She was home alone. She took the (surprisingly) calm cat out of her hoodie, depositing him safely into the basin of the kitchen sink before shedding her backpack off of her and removing the trash bag, putting it over on the island behind her. The cat stared at her with its dark blue eyes while she rolled up her sleeves, her shirt slightly wet.

"Alright, kitty, I have to get all the mud and brambles out of your fur. It's going to take awhile and it might sting a bit, and I'm sorry for that, but you'll feel better afterwards, alright?"

"Meooow."

"Okay, let's get started."

Zarla began by plucking out all the brambles and leaves she saw stuck in his fur, made easier by the fact that there was not a dry spot on the cat's body. Then she set up a very shallow bath for the animal, gently placing him inside with one hand on its stomach and using a washcloth to get all the mud out. The cat was quiet throughout all of this, shockingly. When he was clean enough, Zarla determined that the cat was male. She picked out all the plants she missed and gently rinsed him. He complained a little bit here, a few very loud meows, but didn't struggle.

Zarla trudged up the stairs, her clothes still sopping wet from cleaning the cat, and grabbed her mother's pink hair dryer, plugging it in and turning it on low to dry the cat off.

Here, he started purring very loudly, enjoying the hot air. When she was finished, the cat had fallen asleep, still purring.

This is when Zarla started noticing a bit more about the cat.

He was actually quite small, and his fur was dark as a black hole, the insides of his ears just a hint lighter than the fur, along with his nose. His whiskers were practically invisible, and he had a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing life-threatening, as far as Zarla was able to tell. Adam would've been better at it, but he had something he needed to do at home, and so he wasn't able to come over today. She'd ask him later, or ask her mom to set up a vet appointment, depending on when her mother got home.

Her mom had just gotten a new, better job, but she was working the crappiest hours- she was at home when Zarla was sleeping and away when Zarla went to and came from school. They told her mom that this was just for a month or two until they could work her into the schedule, but for right now, she was stuck in horrid hours.

Zarla took the cat up to her room, using a spare blanket to make a bed for him. He didn't stir once.

Zarla went back to the ground floor and removed her homework from her backpack, finishing the work she didn't do in study hall before going back up to her room and doing research until it was just strings of words. Then she read a chapter in her required reading, a book about the stars, which she was interested in but it wasn't all that exciting. By then, it was nine at night, so she got ready for bed, watched an episode of Doctor Who, then fell sleep, imagining the inside of the fantastic blue box.

The cat woke once, looked around, then nodded off again.

**Let's Do the Time Warp Again!**

Zarla had taken the kitten to the vet and got his age of one and a half years, roughly. She and the cat were now having a stare off, a notebook in front of her.

"Lightning doesn't seem to suit you; you'd be scared of your own name." She crossed the word off the list. She continued staring at him.

"Shadow or Night seem to fit, but not alone… how about Shadow's Night?"

The cat tilted its head.

"Yeah, a bit bland… how about this, we put it in a different language. How about… Frehor Noches?"

"MEOW."

"So we're decided. Your name is now Frehor Noches, Frehor for short."

"MEEOOW."

"Glad we agree." Zarla stroked his head before fetching a few treats from the pantry. She gave them to him. He purred the entire time.

"Adam's coming over again today. Don't attack him when he gives me a hug, alright?"

A short cat grunt was the only reply.

**Let's do the Time Warp again!**

Frehor caught the disc out of the air, dutifully bringing it back to Zarla.

The fourteen year old smiled. It had taken a long time, but Frehor had warmed up wonderfully to Zarla and followed her everywhere. Zarla could read him easily as a book, and vice versa. They were completely loyal to each other, and Frehor had finally started getting along with Adam.

All was well.

**A/N: As for how Zarla got his loyalty that quickly, I found that giving a cat three treats one a day everyday works out pretty well. It did for my cat, at least. And brushing. Lots and lots of brushing.**

**Up next: Some late-night (or whatever the equivalent is in the TARDIS) conversations between the Tenth Doctor and Zarla.**


	4. Late Night Cycle Conversations

**A/N: You know how Zarla's an insomniac? Adam kind of is too, but not to the extent of Zarla. The Doctor rarely sleeps, so ideas have popped into my head.**

**I own nothing but Zarla and Adam.**

It was another late, quiet night cycle in the TARDIS. Both the Tenth Doctor and Zarla were in the console room, the Doctor repairing the TARDIS while Zarla pretty much just kept him company on the jump seat. She was flicking through a book- Eragon, it looked like.

The Doctor poked his head up through the grating like a mole in those Whack-A-Mole games, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Why'd you get into it?"

"Hm?" Zarla glanced towards him.

"Doctor Who or whatever it is they're calling the filming of my life."

"Oh. The reason?"

"Yep!" He was far too excited this late at night.

Zarla shrugged. "It was a way to prove I wasn't alone."

"Oh?"

"It showed me that there is not always a happy ending, and while it's sad, it doesn't mean you should let it beat you or that you shouldn't try to give someone their happy ending. It showed me that there a people out there just like me, and that we all cope in different ways. That's why. So… thanks, Doc."

He had come out of his little hidey hole and now hugged the insomniac teenager, his personal way of saying, "No, thank you."

**Requiem of Spirit (Time hop)**

"We're going to have a brilliant time, Rose!"

"Doctor." This alone snapped him to attention. That voice wasn't Rose's, and it never called him Doctor unless the owner was being serious. It also wasn't the first time this voice had to remind him of who it actually did belong to. Also, it didn't sound offended, as another not-Rose voice had sounded whenever he mixed up names and voices.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't-"

The voice cut him off.

"Doc, it's okay. No harm done, right?" Zarla, the correct owner, cut him off mid-apology rant. He had gotten used to doing them when he had slipped up with the one that got offended.

"No physical harm," the Doctor absently corrected.

"No mental baggage either- at least, not on my end," Zarla replied.

"You're not offended?" He was surprised. Usually humans got upset when they were called by a different name.

"No. How I could I be? She was amazing."

"You know her?"

"You know that your life is a fictional television series where we're from. That includes Rose Tyler."

"You're not offended?" He knew he was repeating himself. He just couldn't get over it.

"No. I know just how hard it is to let something go when you really don't want to." He could see tears budding up in her eyes since she was now looking straight at him, steel blue meeting chocolate brown.

"Tell me about her?" Zarla asked.

"Why? You seem to know a lot about her already." It wasn't a bitter or condescending tone. It was that of natural curiosity.

"Not everything, and sometimes you just need to tell someone something. Am I right in saying that you haven't told Martha or Donna the story- _the whole story_?"

"Yes," the Tempus Dominus replied, looking down, enthusiasm lost. The quiet hum of the TARDIS was white noise. And so, without further preamble, he began. Everything he knew about Rose Tyler, almost everything he had ever thought, in a tone and facial expression that left no room for doubt.

"You love her," Zarla interrupts as he's telling about an adventure not covered in the television series. It was caused by them having a slight spat over breakfast and ending up going for a planet that sold nothing but various versions of chips. An odd breakfast, but both were smiling afterwards.

The Doctor did an excellent impersonation of a fish.

"How did you know?" he eventually settled on asking.

"It was always obvious in the show. It was in your eyes every time you looked at her. And Doctor, you've been telling me about how much some of her habits annoyed you to no end with this grin on your face. You probably could've told me that she murdered an entire species and you'd smile. And you did, actually. And you miss her more than anything."

"Yes."

"You can never love someone as much as you can miss them."

"Where'd you hear that?"

"A famous author from our world, John Green."

"He sounds brilliant."

"He is."

The two kindred souls lapsed into silence, letting the hum of the TARDIS fill the room.

"You don't ever forget her, you know. I really don't think you ever stop loving her. We don't either," Zarla spoke up.

"How could I ever forget her?"

"I have no idea…" Zarla trailed off.

"She's… brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And I'll never see her again." The Doctor could feel his throat closing of grief.

Zarla hugged the ancient man, with him returning it, for he needed the support.

For separation by death hurts, but permanent separation with the other half still living was absolute physiological torture.

**And because there's no way I'm leaving you with a sad ending…**

"Do you know any lullabies?" Zarla asked out of the blue on another late night cycle.

The Doctor was once again repairing the TARDIS, so he rolled out from where he was working.

"What?"

"Know any lullabies?"

"Why?"

"Curiosity and sleep deprivation aren't the best of bedmates."

The Doctor hummed in agreement. "A few. Do you?"

"Just one. Well, I know a lot, actually, but the rest are just notes and words. I actually only like one."

"Which one is that?"

Zarla was quiet for a few moments, feet swinging back and forth above the ground from here she was sitting on the jumpseat. "The one my mom always sang to me. She made it up herself, she said." A small smile peaked up the corners of Zarla's lips. "Oh, those nights… I would always have the best of dreams, or none at all."

"How'd it go?"

Zarla quietly fiddled with the strings on the hoodie she was wearing before a soft trill of song came forth.

"_Sleep little nightingale, sleep. Sleep little nightingale, sleep. Rest, pretty nightingale, song will come with dawn, sleep little nightingale, sleep."_

The Doctor sensed his eyes half closed, so he snapped them open, wondering what it was about the song that made him feel tired.

Zarla kept humming the little ditty under her breath, falling asleep herself.

The Doctor looked up awhile later and smiled- a small, gentle little thing, but a smile all the same. He picked her up and carried her to the room the TARDIS made for her- green carpet with purple walls, with a ceiling that changed star systems every night. The bed was simple- a twin bed with purple sheets with silver stars and crescent moons, and a purple and green tye dye bean pillow. Frehor Noches slept next to the pillow on his own midnight blue bed. He woke up when the Doctor placed Zarla on the bed, sniffed his human, looked at the Doctor, and then went back to sleep, purring contentedly when the Doctor absent-mindedly patted his head.

He swore the cat nodded at him.

The Doctor exited the room, singing a little ditty under his breath.

"_Rest, little star, troubles go away, when the second sun rises above the mounts of Gallifrey, Sleep little star of mine, for next time will be fine."_

**A/N: Yes, I now have an obsession with lullabies. Both of these are made up by me! The last one is a made up, traditional lullaby from Gallifrey****in my mind.**


	5. Happy Birthday Doc!

**A/N: Zarla and Adam are mine and nothing else.**

It was one of many late night (or what was considered night on the TARDIS) conversations between Zarla and the Doctor that started up this whole event.

"Do you acknowledge your birthday?"

It really wasn't a strange question. The wording of it, yes, the actual foundation, no. Zarla was a sleep deprived human teenager who thought far too much for her own good. It was natural she'd ask about a human custom.

"Not really."

"Why?"

"I don't find my life worth celebrating."

"We do."

It was not often Zarla would use "we" when Adam was not in the room to speak his mind. So hearing that made the Doctor feel just a little more heartened.

"Thank you."

Silence took over the console room for a minute.

"Do you know when your birthday is? Earth-wise, at least?"

"Not really, but I figure it be somewhere in August."

Zarla nodded, and the concept was not brought up… for awhile.

**Let's do the Time Warp Again!**

To Zarla and Adam's calendar, it was August 10th, 2012.

The Doctor had left the console room that night. Where he was, they didn't know, but they really didn't care all that much, as long as he was out.

Zarla and Adam snuck into the console room and put up a small banner on the console that read "Happy Birthday Doc!" in gold and scarlet ink. The banner didn't block any of the controls, but was still noticeable.

The TARDIS hummed and flashed her lights in what appeared to be curiosity.

Zarla whispered the explanation to the console while hooking up the banner. The TARDIS hummed again and continued its normal sounds and light level.

Then Zarla went into the kitchen while Adam brought it a small package of blue, gold, and scarlet balloons into the console room. Zarla brought out of the oven a banana cake and covered it in chocolate icing, decorating the top with edible ball bearings.

She brought it out into the console room and sat down on the jumpseat next to Adam.

"Got it?" she questioned.

"Yep." Adam revealed a blue and green iridescent box wrapped with silver ribbon. Between the bow and box was a small note that read "To: Doc From: Adam and Zarla" in Zarla's handwriting.

"And now we wait."

And so they did. Donna came in fifteen minutes later with a book for the Doctor. It was a collection of Superman comic books for the Doctor to laugh at. Krypton, apparently, did exist, and the Doctor had visited it. The way humans portrayed it amused him.

It was about half an hour later when the Doctor came in, looking puzzled until he saw the miniature party.

"Happy Birthday, Doc!" the other three TARDIS residents said to the Doctor's surprised face.

"What- How did- Why?" the Doctor eventually settled on.

Zarla grinned. "Remember a few months ago when I asked about your birthday? Well… I took a random guess as to what day in August it might be."

The three were swept up into a hug by the Doctor.

"Thank you," he managed.

"Hey now, we haven't even started! C'mon Doc!" Zarla lead him fully into the console room, making him sit on the jump seat while she lit a candle placed in the center.

"Sorry, we don't have 903 candles… or enough room on the cake," Adam told him.

The Doctor just grinned and blew out the candle after they sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He laughed when he opened Donna's present and flipped through it.

He looked at Adam questioningly when the teenager handed the box over, but accepted it, gently taking off the bow and note and opening the box, removing a necklace.

It wasn't very "girly", and even if it was, Doc still would've worn it. It was in a heart shape, the inside part being a small, red gemstone the same color as the balloons and ink. The outside part was gold, and the chain was simple metal balls, much like those of dog tags.

"Two hearts." That was the only explanation of the gift, given to him by Zarla.

The Doctor put it on and hid it underneath his shirt.

"Thank you," he said again, hugging all of them.

"Alright, Time Boy, that's enough of the hugs," Donna told him, but with no real fire.

The "party" had lasted an hour at most, but it was one of the best ones of the Doctor's long life, with many, many more to come.

Awhile later, when Adam and Donna had retired, the Doctor confronted Zarla.

"Why'd you choose today?"

"You said August and you're in your tenth incarnation. Therefore, August 10th." She shrugged, not finding it of much consequence.

"Thank you."

"Everyone should have the chance to celebrate their life, for it's always worth living. Can't have the good without the bad, can you?"

"I suppose not."

"Get some rest tonight Doc, even if it is only reading a book. Night."

"Good night, Zarla."

And she went off to seek her own bed.

The Doctor smiled. Zarla had guessed spot on which day his "birthday" would be on.

**A/N: I've read a lot of things about celebrating the Doctor's birthday, but I've had this idea in my head for awhile now. My question is was the Doctor born the human way or was he "loomed"? I've seen it both ways, so I decided to go with a somewhat neutral theme.**

**Can't believe I didn't publish this sooner… it's been lounging around on my laptop! Luckily, my Internet decided to not act up while I did this.**


	6. Zarla, Meet Video Games

**A/N: I own Zarla and Adam and nothing else.**

Well, to be honest, Zarla had a bit more on her plate than most people, so the fact that she played very little video games wasn't that much of a surprise.

That didn't stop Adam from trying to introduce her to the gaming world.

First stop, Pokémon. She enjoyed it thoroughly, and, in fact, got a game or two for her birthday and Christmas. Her favorite type was the Grass type, and she trained the Pokémon she did catch all the way up to level 99, although she did take hiatuses from the games.

Next game: Legend of Zelda. She enjoyed the puzzle aspects of it and could easily figure out how to defeat a boss (she discovered the pattern). The combat portion of the game was alright, but she couldn't defeat any high level enemies such as Stalfos, Gerudo guards, and more. She could win against Wolfos, though. She hated the wooden shield; it burned too easily for her, so she mainly ran around as the older Link to use the metal shield properly.

She actually discovered something surprising one day.

"Hey Adam, what's the purple gemstone?"

"Rupee. It's fifty green ones."

"Are they regular enemy drops?"

"No, not even a boss drops them… why?"

"Because I just shot a bat and it dropped one."

"What? Show me."

Zarla unpaused the game, showing Adam proof by picking up the purple gem on the ground in Ganon's Castle.

"What did you do?"

"I shot it with the bow. Look, here, I'll do it again."

Zarla locked onto the last bat, drawing the bow and shooting it in quick succession, causing a burst of light to fill the screen and leave as quickly as it arrived. The Keese (the bat-like enemies in Zelda) fell to the ground, its remains burning, a purple Rupee coming out.

"Shooting a Keese with a Light Arrow drops purple Rupees. Good to know," Adam noted. Later, he tried the same thing with another enemy and the same thing happened, so he changed the note to any enemy instead of just Keese.

Portal was the next in the game lineup. Zarla hated playing it, not being able to hit the buttons fast enough for double-flinging and other maneuvers, but was able to figure out the puzzles quickly and enjoyed watching Adam play it. GLaDOS was hilarious, and for some reason, she thoroughly enjoyed watching the robot try to kill Chell but was happy when Adam melted her down.

Next was Final Fantasy Nine. Zarla loved the story line and was sad when the game ended. She was extremely good at "Chocobo Hot and Cold" and found all the Chocographs, eventually leading to an almost undefeatable party by finding all the ultimate weapons. Using a walkthrough (because she got stuck on a part), she fought a hidden boss and defeated him. She also leveled up the entire party to level 99, the highest possible level. Her favorite characters were Vivi and Freya. She defeated the final boss and played a bit of blackjack at end title screen.

Adam also introduced her to Kingdom Hearts… although in a different way. He put her in the World That Never Was in Kingdom Hearts II and told her the controls and enemies. He didn't say much, but he told her to use the Drive Forms if she was worried.

This was a mistake.

Following Adam's instructions, Zarla ran around using the Drive Forms, collecting more Drive orbs if she ran out.

Well, here's where things get freaky.

Zarla had just activated Valor Form, but instead of a familiar red… Sora turned pure black, darkness seeping out from him. His Keyblade had disappeared, leaving him with claws. Zarla looked down at his HP and noticed it was still the same. So she continued hitting "x" to attack.

"Adam?"

"What's up?"

"I think you have a glitch in your game."

"What?" Adam exited the kitchen, carrying two hot chocolates, placing them down before looking at the screen, where the pure black Sora had just destroyed a Shadow Heartless with a kick.

"Ah. That would be the Antiform."

"The what?" Another Heartless fell.

"Just keep fighting, I'll tell you after."

So Zarla did, Sora eventually becoming himself again and all the Heartless gone. She instantly paused the game and turned to Adam for an explanation.

"This is Kingdom Hearts II, taking place about a year after the first one. In the first game, Sora gave his heart up for Kairi," he took the controller and showed Zarla the picture of her, "and became a Heartless. The Antiform was inserted to prevent the overuse of Drive Forms, and the more you use it, the higher chance you have of activating the Antiform instead of Valor, Wisdom, or Master."

"And you didn't think to tell me this why?"

"Didn't think you'd activate it."

Zarla rolled her eyes. "Well, let's avoid doing that from now on."

Zarla liked Kingdom Hearts just fine, and got Sora up from level 45 to level 80 with the amount she played through the worlds.

Next on the line up was Mario Galaxy. Zarla preferred being player two and helping Adam out by stopping enemies and collecting/shooting Star Bits. Nothing particularly interesting happened in this bout.

Mario Kart was Zarla's least favorite game, but that might have to do with the fact that she couldn't move. Literally, she couldn't accelerate and gave up on the game. Not even ten minutes had passed between starting and giving up on it.

And finally, Mario Party DS. Adam regretted ever showing Zarla this game. Why? Because she kicked _ass_. Didn't matter what difficulty the computers were on, or if she and Adam faced off. She won without fail. She never bragged about it, she just claimed she had good luck. Bowser could help Adam as much as possible, but Zarla always won by a good few Stars. It was nice when they played teams though: Zarla knew what to do and how to do it once she read the instructions. He could never win against in any of the one on three minigames where she was the one (wo)man show. It was ridiculous, really. So if they ever had a mass of people playing against each other and Zarla was in the group and betting pools were going, Adam would always put his money on her.

And that is how Zarla and Adam killed a summer with nothing to do.


	7. Take a Break, Doc

Take A Break, Doc.

Zarla was in the library, reading from the mass collection of chemistry books. Adam was off somewhere (he said something about a Garden Room) and Donna and Doc where who-knows where.

She was sitting in front of the pool (which was one of those cool ones with a fire place in it) when the lights started flickering. Zarla looked up, set the book down on the table nearby, and looked up. Most of the lights dimmed, but there was one line of extremely bright lights.

Zarla followed the trail, knowing it was the TARDIS leading her. Something was wrong, Zarla could feel it. It's that feeling you get when you just can't sit still, like you're going to have to bolt at any second. That's how she felt.

She followed the lights all the way to the end of a hallway she had never been down. You see, the TARDIS was much like a labyrinth, but with the main rooms always being in or at least nearby the same place (like her fuel room or the console room), but she'll move rooms around if she needs to (or feels like messing with people).

So, anyway, the strange thing was, there wasn't anything descriptive about the door. With Zarla, Adam, and Donna being onboard, the TARDIS had manufactured signs, both for convenience and amusement, as some of the signs were extremely confusing. So the doors usually had a matching symbol, color, or both. Zarla's door was purple with an Erlenmeyer's Flask on it with blue bubbles. Zarla's was the only door with a cat flap. (Despite anything Doc said, Frehor grew on him extremely fast, and Frehor loved sitting on the Doctor's lap or feet while he read.) _Moving on,_ Zarla entered the room, revealing… well, she wasn't quite sure. All around the room were classroom sized chalkboards and white boards, each having scattered pieces of chalk, dry erase markers, and erasers, the whiteboards occasionally having spray with them. The room had catwalks all around the circular walls with stairways leading to the next level. The middle of the room was open, and it was as if there was sunlight coming from a distant skylight, somehow lighting up the entire room. The walls (what little amount was showing) were this odd yellow-brown color. The most notable thing about the room, however, was the large pile of dry erase markers and spray bottles in the center, as if someone had been to lazy to take them to the trash bin.o

Looking up, Zarla saw the tenth incarnation of the Doctor, the one she was traveling with. He was about a fourth of the way down, each board above him and to his left filled with diagrams, equations, and Gallifreyan writing.

Zarla silently walked up the stairs, going nearby the Doctor and waiting until the marker was off the board before speaking.

"Doc?"

The Doctor jumped, startled, then turned to Zarla, who inwardly winced at his appearance. He was thin, far too thin, even for him, and there were dark bags under his eyes. His fingers were raw, and his hair was dull, lifeless, and greasy, and his clothes were covered in chalk dust and dry erase marker.

"You look horrible. How long you've been at this? And what is 'this'?"

The Doctor looked down at his shoes, which were worn and more dirty than usual.

"Oh, not too-"

"Doctor." Zarla had a warning tone, the done that (when Doc was lying) said "don't'-lie-to-me-Mister".

"Since we got back."

"That was… what, two and a half weeks ago? Have you eaten? Have you slept?" She ignored the fact that he hadn't answered her second question, but she'd give him that third degree later.

"No…"

Zarla threw up her hands. "That's it, with me. You are eating and then sleeping, even if I have to force food and pills down your throat. Pills aren't like aspirin, are they?"

"No, I'm not going!"

"Then answer me: what is this?"

The Doctor stayed silent, picking up the marker before he held his stinging hand. Zarla had slapped it, using his reaction of opening his hand to snatch the marker and put it down by her.

"Doctor, answer me."

The Doctor muttered something Zarla's didn't catch.

"Louder, please."

"A way to find Rose." It was quiet, but just loud enough for Zarla to hear.

"Oh." Nearly silent, that was all Zarla could say for a little. Doc stood there, staring at his shoes, and Zarla stared at the Doctor until she shook herself.

"She wouldn't want this. She wouldn't want you to ignore taking care of yourself to find her. You're not gonna be any good dead tired and half-starved. C'mon, move it mister." Zarla gently shoved the Doctor towards the stairs, encountering no resistance from the man. He seemed to be lost in thought.

The TARDIS once again lead Zarla through to the bathroom, where Zarla shoed the Doctor in, closing the door and telling him to "take a shower or whatever" (hey, her words, not his) and padding off, presumably towards the kitchen where she would make a meal for everyone and force the Doctor to sit down and eat with them.

And that's exactly what she did. Adam was a bit put out because Zarla called him in the middle of a game with Donna, but he got over it very quickly. They all had an enjoyable meal, the Doctor's appearance being ignored due to Zarla's pointed looks, and then they left to continue what they were doing. Adam's laughter and Donna's grouchy replies could be heard down the hall.

The Doctor then went into his room under the TARDIS's demands (which was making his room the only room he could enter unless he wanted to stay in the hallway) and changed into pajamas. Yes, he owns a pair; he just hardly ever wears them. The multiple pieces of the suit were taken by the TARDIS and put in the laundry room, where Zarla followed the instructions to clean it.

And for the first time in too long, the Doctor slept and had no nightmares, but dreamed of a place where all his old companions stood there, smiling at him, thanking him for showing them the universe, and telling him not to blame himself for them leaving however they left. Rather than making him feel sad, the Doctor smiled.

**A/N: It's been far too long since I updated this. I've had this idea for awhile, now, because I really do think that there would be times when Doc pretty much said "screw it" to everything and just tried to find a way to get to Rose. I know it's a little (lot) Zarla and Doc heavy, so I'm thinking of finding an idea to do with Donna and Adam. What do you guys think?**


End file.
